Thursday, June 11, 2009

McGuire Scaffold-Watch! Week: ???? + 9

Still there, but now with attractive blue netting to keep parts of the building they're chiseling off from falling on cars and pedestrians. Gee, that's nice of them. You know, I wish there was a word to sum up how I feel whenever I walk by the McGuire. It's a strange combination of derision, an irresistible urge to mock the place, and overwhelming pity. Have the Germans invented a term for what I feel? They're so good at identifying baser human emotions. I mean, even the Chinese use the word Schadenfreude in everyday conversation. Before the Germans named it, it was known as "being a crappy person." This emotional combo that the McGuire inspires in me does pack pity along, so I consider it more noble than your garden-variety Schadenfreude. For lack of a better German word, let's call it demopity. Yeah, that could be a word. That's how I feel about the McGuire.

Some hopeless optimist hung this sign up:As I've said in the past: if the exterior of the place is so poorly constructed that it needs a scaffold and a chisel-wielding dwarf army to fix it, just think about the interior. Honestly, who would want to live here? What's the sales team's slogan now? "You'll love our solidly-constructed scaffold, but you'll stay for the attractive blue netting." Yeah, perfect.

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Seattle is quite a beautiful city, no doubt about that. The Belltown neighborhood doesn’t swing that way. Much of it is downright hideously ugly. If not for all that ugliness, there’d be nothing to see. I’ve lived here for 20 years and I’ve only just started taking notice. Please join me on this odyssey of unsightliness as we try to figure out why poor Belltown looks so bad.